Hanno ostensibly agreed to send an army to Sicily, but he had no absolute certainty of victory on the strength of the Carthaginian city alone, and therefore needed to gather the military forces of the Iberian governor Margos, who had a large army for many years, and often fought against the natives of Iberia, and had a lot of experience in battle.

It stands to reason that Hanno's request was reasonable, and many of the senators agreed, but the Magonian patriarchs such as Pretakuba were firmly opposed, arguing that although Marco had an army in Iberia, this army was used to defend against the invasion of the Iberian natives, and if they were transferred, the newly occupied Carthaginian lands in Iberia might fall into the hands of the natives again.

Hanno scoffed at this reason, and he loudly mocked: "Does Margo still need to guard against the attack of the Iberian natives!" I have heard that the chiefs of the indigenous Iberians often visited him in the city of Céci, and that he rebuked them as if they were slaves. And I also know that the officials of the cities of Malaga and Cadiz went to Sesi to see Marco much more often than they came to Carthage! The colonies of Iberia are now very stable, but Margo's application to the Senate for military expenses is increasing year by year, and his army is getting bigger and bigger, I don't know who he is using this army to defend against?! Shouldn't he serve Carthage with this army, which is fed on Carthage's gold and silver?! If he doesn't agree, then does he have something else in mind?! ”

Hanno's words were so heart-wrenching that Pretakuba was unable to refute them for a while, and many of the senators who had accepted Margo's bribes could not speak for him at this time, and Hanno's proposal was supported by the neutral senators.

In the end, Hanno even said cruelly: "If Marco does not send troops, Carthage will not send troops to Sicily!" ”

The meeting broke up.

Soon, rumors began to spread in the city of Carthage: "Hanno was afraid of Dionys, did not dare to send an army into battle, and was determined to break the agreement with his close ally Rome!" ”

However, another rumor was more widely spread: "Margo refused to send an army recruited with the tax money of the citizens of Carthage to fight against Dionysa because he wanted to be king of Iberia!" ”

This rumor caused an uproar in the city of Carthage, and many people gathered in front of the Senate to protest, denouncing Marco as a traitor, and strongly demanding that the Senate remove him from his position as governor of Iberia and transfer him back to Carthage to stand trial.

When the news reached southern Iberia, Marco and the others were somewhat depressed when they found out.

They are clear: this is the ill of Carthage, which is not in the center of power, so it is difficult to control the situation. Although the Magonides had a fairly stable foundation in Iberia, once they broke away from Carthage, they became rootless.

Of course, they did not want to be betrayed by the Carthaginian people, and Hanno's approach hit them in the soft underbelly.

Marco consulted with Haka and the others, and a decision was quickly made.

So, a few days later, Pretakuba proposed at a meeting of the Senate: "My lords, as a citizen of Carthage, the governor of Iberia, Margo, of course, is willing to send his army to war, but he wants to be the commander of the attack on Sicily!" ”

It is true that with Margo's status and military qualifications, no one among the citizens of Carthage dares to compete with him for the position of commander-in-chief of the expedition, but how could Hanno let him get his wish, Taipan Lako immediately stood up and expressed his objection: "The situation in the Iberian Peninsula is complicated, and there are many fierce natives, once Margo leaves, the newly sent governor is not familiar with the situation there, I am afraid that it will lead to the instability of the newly occupied Iberian region, and all these years of efforts will be in vain!" Therefore, it is better for Margo to stay in Iberia, and only need to send the army over. ”

Pretakuba immediately retorted: "Ladies and gentlemen, you should all know that the Iberian army is composed of complex members, most of them are foreign mercenaries, if outsiders lead them, I am afraid that they will not be able to obey the command, not only will they not achieve the effect of battle, but will cause chaos. If the Senate is really worried about the safety of the new Iberian territory, I recommend Hasdruba, the son of Himirko, as the commander of this expedition, who has led his army to defeat the natives in Iberia many times, and is an equally rare general of Carthage! ”

Changing from Marco to Hasdruba, the effect is not the same! Marco Hit Great Idea! Hanno sneered in his heart.

As a result, the Hannonite senators all objected, and even Ockelton excitedly shouted: "Isn't it dangerous that an army fed by Carthage's taxes will not obey Carthage's orders, but will only obey the command of one man?" Do we dare to entrust the command of the army to such a man and put the city of Carthage in possible danger! ……”

Uckleton's remarks were quite damning, but he hit the point that many of the senators feared: the main members of the Magonides family had gone to Iberia, could not return to Carthage several times a year, and had in their hands a large army, which was hardly composed of Carthaginian citizens, which had already worried the Senate, and now the command of the marching army was handed over to the Magonides, which was obviously not what the senators expected.

On this issue, the head of the Centrist faction, Esyaruba, was in agreement with Hanno.

Eventually, with the support of the majority of the senators, a resolution was passed: the military governor of Numibia, Millefio, should be the commander of the army, and Marco would not have to go on the expedition, but Iberia would have to send no less than 20,000 troops to fight.

This resolution was not only completely contrary to the desired result of Margo and others, but also greatly damaged their interests, so Margo, who received the news, delayed the implementation of the resolution, but sent an envoy to Carthage with a large amount of money to lobby the senators.

The two sides have been back and forth, but the dispatch of troops to Sicily has been delayed.

……………………………………

While the Carthaginian Senate was arguing over the expedition, the Council of Syracuse was also arguing fiercely.

More than ten years ago, Syracuse was the largest Greek city-state in Sicily, and even the most powerful city-state in the entire Greek world, under the rule of the tyrant Dionysius, the Syracuse defeated the powerful Carthaginians, conquered most of Sicily, and became the overlord of Sicily. Dionysius even led an army of nearly 100,000 to the north to attack Greater Greece across the sea, in an attempt to expand his territory.

However, after a half-year war with the newly emerging Dionica League, the Syracuse were defeated in both naval and land battles, and even the Dionicus army even attacked Sicily, leading to a rebellion by the Syracuse and overthrow the rule of Dionysius, who was eventually betrayed by Sparta and murdered.

The people of Syracuse, liberated from the dictatorship of Dionysius, decided not to repeat the mistakes of the past, and the people entrusted Herolis, who played a major leadership role in the overthrow of Dionysius's rule, to form a new democratic government of Syracuse.

However, Hrolis had other ideas. During the reign of Dionysius, he held important public offices in the city-state, and he also carefully studied the political system of Dionia, so he opposed Dionysius because Dionysius's brutality and oppression of the people did not mean that he fully identified with democracy. On the contrary, he believes that the democratic system is too liberal and loose, inefficient, and prone to chaos, especially when Syracuse has suffered a crushing defeat and urgently needs to quickly restore the country's strength, it is more necessary to concentrate power and quickly make various decisions that are conducive to the development of the city-state.

As a result, he was slow to form a new government, and instead used his position as the supreme leader of the war to frequently issue various resolutions, which were often decided by him alone without consulting others, which was criticized by the people.

During this time, two events greatly reduced his popularity among the people.

First of all, one of the former democratic figures of Syracuse, Teagenis, was arrested for his strong opposition to the rule of Dionysius and was supposed to be executed, but with the help of his friends, he escaped captivity and escaped from Sicily. After the overthrow of Dionysius's rule, he actually returned to Syracuse with several ships and some soldiers.

Based on his previous heroic deeds against Dionysius, the populace warmly welcomed his arrival and elected him general in the citizens' assembly, hoping that he would be included in the Executive Council of Wartime Generals in Syracuse to counterbalance the growing power of Herolis.

But Jerolis went so far as to veto the results of the citizens' assembly, stressing that "his approval must be obtained for any resolution." "This incident made the people very angry.

However, in a previous resolution issued by Jerolis, a large amount of fertile land that Dionysius had allocated to the mercenaries was allocated to the civilians of the port, and gave them full citizenship, so that it was fully supported by the people of the port and the freedmen.

In addition, in the executive committee of the wartime generals, Falekus, Stasikos, ...... and others were friends of Herrolis and supporters of him, so it seemed as if his rights were unshakable.

The second is that although Dionya agreed to release the captured Syracuse soldiers and sailors, Davers made a condition that Syracuse pay war reparations to compensate for the damage caused to Greater Greece by the Syracuse army, as well as ransom money for the captives.